No increase in rice prices at government’s outlets: Egypt ministry

Egypt’s Supply Ministry has denied any increase in the price of rice at government outlets following claims by some traders that rice prices increased by 200 Egyptian pounds per tonne, the Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) said Saturday.

The ministry said that there was no increase in the price of rice at any government outlet across Egypt, saying that the price is stable at 6.5 pounds per kilogram.

It added that it supplies around 50,000 tonnes of rice a month to the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) at a price of 6,100 pounds per tonne.

The ministry further said that strategic reserves of rice are at a safe level and that it follows up on the governorates’ needs of food staples and pumps enough quantities of goods to meet local demand.

Egypt increased its production of rice last year and worked on increasing its strategic rice reserves.

In December, Supply Ministry spokesman Mamdouh Ramadan said that Egypt has enough locally produced rice to feed demand for the next 12 months. Source: Egypt today